180 



THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



county, and shall pay to said clerk the sum of one dollar, to he paid by said clerk to tUo county commissioners of Worcester county, to he 

 expended in the procuring of seed-oysters to be planted in said bay as the commissioners aforesaid may direct, but no person licensed as 

 above, nor any other person, shall take or remove any oysters from the waters of said bay or its tributaries on any Sunday or in the night 

 at any season, nor during the day from the 1st day of May to the 1st day of October, or any shells from the natural rocks at any time ; 

 provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to forbid any person from taking or catching his or her own planted oysters at any 

 time and with any kind of instrument. 



Sec. ;i. No person shall catch, take, or remove any shells or oysters from the natur.al beds in the waters of Sinepnxent liay or its 

 tributaries ^^ith scrapes, scoops, dredges, or drags, or with any instrument in the working of which any other than liand power is used. 



Sec. 4. It shall be lawful for any citizen of Worcester county to plant, or for any resident to lay down, oysters on not exceeding 

 five acres in any one place in any of the waters, except upon the natural rocks of the said bay or its tributaries, and that no person, 

 except the owner or his employ(5, shall work upon or among said planted or laid down oysters; provided, that portion of the said waters 

 so planted in be kept plainly marked with bushes, stakes, or buoys, and any person maliciously removing said bushes, stakes, or buoys, 

 shall be liable to the penalties of this section ; and provided, that nothing in this section shall affect the rights of owners of land to the 

 exclusive use of any creek, cove, or inlet, within their said lands, not exceeding one hundred yards in width at its mouth, and any person 

 violating the provisions of this section shall be liable to be sued as for damage to any other property, 



Secs. 5, 6, 7. Regulate penalties, forfeitures, and proceedings against oii'endors. 



P. COASTS OF VIRGINIA. 



49. OYSTEE-PISnEEIES AND OYSTER-PACKING. 



General consideeations. — Upon the study of the oyster-interests of the Chesapeake, iuclndetl within the 

 state of Virginia, several persons coutribnteil besides myself, notably Mr. R. H. Edmonds, of Baltimore, to whom 

 the credit of the Maryland chapter belongs, and Col. Marshall McDonald, of the United States Fish Comuii-ssion. 

 The waters of Virginia being in many places separated from those of Maryland by imaginary lines only, it is 

 not to be expected, remarks Mr. Edmonds, that the conditions of the oyster-trade, and the class of people dependent 

 upon it, should show any very material difference in the two states. Different laws have of course exerted an 

 influence upon some features of the trade ; but the essential and most important facts in regard to the trade, in 

 both states, is the same — that the oystermen are generally poor and illiterate, often intemperate and reckless. 



Methods op gatiieeing oysters.* — Dredging on natural rocks was abolished in Virginia in 1S79, and is 

 only allowed at present on private beds; few, however, avail themselves of this privilege. lu some parts of the 

 state, where planting is extensively conducted, there are a few dredge boats, but they meet with considerable 

 opposition, as it is very generally believed by planters who do not dredge, that the dredgers do not confine their 

 operations to their own beds. This belief is probably correct. The beds are staked off with poles, sometimes 

 fifty to a hundred yards apart, and the dredgers sailing over one bed can scarcely, even if so disposed, keep from 

 crossing the line which separates adjoining beds. The law entirely abolishing dredging on natural rocks, was 

 undoubtedly a mistake, since there are many localities in the state where, rightly restricted, it would prove very 

 advantageous to the beds; while there are other places where the water is so deep that tonging cannot be carried 

 on, and the beds are thus lying idle, of no value to the state or to any individual. 



The tonging interests of Virginia are far more extensive than the same interests in Maryland, and differ 

 slightly in a few other respects, the most important of which is, that the trade is greater in the former state than in 

 the latter. 



Statistics op tonging and dredging in 1865.— As long ago as 1865, Mr. C. S. Maltby, the great oyster- 

 merchant of Baltimore, estimated that the total annual supply and disposal of oysters taken in Virginia was as 



follows: 



Ot/siers taken in Virginia waters. 



The oysterjmen op Virginia. — Previous to the late war the oystermen of Virginia were composed of negroes, 

 working for their masters, and of a very rough class of whites; but at the close of the war the demand for oysters 



* Chiefly from notes by Mr. Edmonds. 



